Disney Parks: Mickey's Toontown, Roger Rabbit, and Future Park Development

Epcot's Festival of the Arts Expansion

• 🎨 The Epcot International Festival of the Arts is returning in 2018 with an extended run, operating 7 days a week from January 12th to February 19th.
• 🎭 This festival has become a successful promotion for Disney's Broadway productions, with potential appearances from the cast of the upcoming "Frozen" musical during its pre-Broadway tryout.
• 🖼️ The festival's success is attributed to leveraging Disney's archives, such as John Hench drawings and Mary Blair artwork, with planning time increasing from 3 weeks to a full year for the 2018 event.

Walt Disney World's Financial and Employment Shifts

• 📉 Attendance softening at Walt Disney World has led to a pause on the ambitious $2 billion Epcot redo, impacting projects like Ratatouille, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Mission Space.
• 💼 Layoffs are occurring across Walt Disney World, particularly within the web and interactive groups, with potential for thousands of management positions to be eliminated.
• 📉 This shift reflects a move from valuing institutional memory to a more flexible staffing model, prioritizing short-term profits through cost-cutting measures.

Universal Orlando's Aggressive Expansion Strategy

• 🎢 Universal Orlando is closing its Terminator 2 3D attraction to make way for a Fast and Furious attraction, signaling a commitment to opening a major attraction annually starting in 2019.
• 🚀 The park plans to expand the Harry Potter universe and is rumored to be developing a Star Trek-themed ride to replace Terminator 2 3D.
• ⚔️ This aggressive expansion by Universal is seen as a direct response to Disney's successes, particularly the impact of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter on the development of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.

The Genesis of Mickey's Toontown and Roger Rabbit

• 💡 Mickey's Toontown in Disneyland was conceived as a way to boost attendance during periods of attraction development, inspired by the success of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."
• 🎬 "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" was a massive box office hit, grossing over $329 million worldwide, leading Disney to quickly capitalize on its success with merchandise and potential sequels.
• 🎬 Disney's Hollywood Studios incorporated "Roger Rabbit" elements into its attractions, including the backstage tour and the Acme Gag Factory, to capitalize on the film's popularity.

Unproduced Roger Rabbit Sequels and Future Possibilities

• 📝 Several concepts for "Roger Rabbit" sequels were developed, including "Toon Platoon" (a WWII-themed prequel) and "Who Discovered Roger Rabbit?" (a Broadway-set story), but none reached production due to various issues, including rights disputes and studio concerns.
• 💻 Robert Zemeckis expressed interest in a new "Roger Rabbit" film set in the era of television, potentially featuring a digitally recreated Bob Hoskins as a ghost.
• 🏗️ Lessons learned from building Mickey's Toontown outside Disneyland's berm are being applied to the construction of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, highlighting surprising parallels in project development.